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April 01, 2011

The Making of Hoosiers

Chances are almost every American kid who's been a high school athlete in the past 25 years has seen the basketball movie Hoosiers. Steve Hollar was one of the local kids hired to act in the film, but before that, Steve lived a real life version of the same story. He was an Indiana high school basketball player from a small town who helped take his team all the way to the state championship. He talks with Dick Gordon about what he learned when Gene Hackman was his coach.

Also in this episode, not all basketball tales have a storybook ending. Tierra Rogers can attest to that. She has real talent, but she was forced to stop playing for UC Berkeley.

Plus, in September, Dr. Clark Wang came on this program to talk about what he'd learned about green burial, and what his own plans were for what happened to his body after he died. Clark died this week, and this weekend, his friends and family are carrying out his wishes.

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The 2008 Summer Olympics open tonight with lush ceremonies in Beijing. Head choreographer Shen Wei himself represents the night's fusion of East and West - he grew up in China, but spent 10 years living in the United States.Also in this episode, Frank Baker wrote to The Story after hearing Dick's interview with Jabari Aali Shaw, a young man adjusting to the daily pressures of life after prison. Frank worked over 20 years as a probation officer in Oakland, Calif. He says during his career many young people passed through his office, but none were as honest as Jabari. And, some world leaders are boycotting the opening ceremonies tonight to protest China's human rights record. Floyd Scholz lived through an Olympic boycott. Back in the 1970s, Floyd was focused on competing in the decathlon at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

A galloping tale to get you in the spirit of this weekend’s Kentucky Derby. In the mid-seventies, Paula Turner was asked to train an unknown colt by the name of Seattle Slew. That black colt had a crooked leg but, with Paula's persistence, he would go on to win the Triple Crown.

The federal Farm Bill sitting before a House committee may end up reducing or eliminating subsidies for crops like cotton. Depending on what happens, it could mean the end of a way of life for one man, Zack Killegrew, who tells guest host Scott Jagow about how farming cotton got into his blood - despite the bugs, the hurricanes and market disasters. In fact, Zack says that if he ever won the lottery, he'd still farm. Scott also talks to Gerald Helferich, author of "High Cotton," a book in which Zack Killegrew is featured. Also on the show: a coach's decision to play his less talented players during the championship game.

Dick speaks with Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign about the way the British government dealt with a tragic incident in a Liverpool soccer stadium, and how it became a pivotal moment for people there. Two decades later, British Prime Minister David Cameron has apologized.

Attorney H. Candace Gorman has just returned from her 5th trip to Cuba. She represents 2 Guantanamo prisoners, neither of whom has ever been charged with anything. One of them, Abdul Al Ghizzawi, is so depressed that she fears he may commit suicide. Also on the show: the longest-running hockey league for inner city youths in the nation.